So, where to begin? At
the start I suppose! That's what Lewis Carroll recommends anyway :P

I climbed into the car
with Gaz and Cath, the two organizers of the event, and in fact the
two people who run 'Spooks Events' as soon as I sat down I felt a
warm feeling coming from them and I knew I was in for an interesting
evening. We had to go and pick up a fourth person, another guest who
attended the Ghost Hunt in Oxford. That was interesting as I had made
a note in my journal the day before that I had expected a third
person, who was unknown to me to be there also.

I must admit that I had
been making pictures in my head about the journey to Oxford (which is
an hours drive away from where I live) and I imagined that it would
be really awkward and that I would hounded by questions like “what
am I thinking?” and such but I can't stress how nice Gaz and Cath
were and they made me feel really comfortable. They are a really good
couple and he loves her more than she knows. It was nice to see them
bickering in that teasing kind of way that people do, like I say they
made me feel really comfortable.

By the time we arrived
at Oxford castle the temperature had dropped to a nice level of
chilly and darkness had descended so the setting was exactly right
for a spooky night of ghost hunting! It was when we arrived that I
first met the lovely Julie Angel Guest, the medium that Spooks Events
had hired for the hunt. I was really glad to meet her and one of my
motives had been to 'model' her and see how she did what she did, so
I was very excited about what I would learn. Her inner chatter was
amongst the loudest I have ever heard, with all the sense firing off!
Forget a sixth sense, she had about sixteen!

The people at Oxford
castle kicked off the event with a historical tour telling us all
about how the castle had changed throughout time, about how it had
gone from being used a main defence of the city of Oxford to being
used as a squalid prison and now the site of countless ghost hunts.
He told us all about Matilda, the grandmother of the Richard the
Lion-heart and King John who famously signed the Magna Carta. It was
a real treat for me as I'm a massive history buff and just to see the
castle was worth the trip.

We had a quick break
and recharged our batteries with some nice coffee and some biscuits.
It was at this point that I realised how little I had done, and
despite looking awesome I hadn't shared any of the thoughts or
feelings I had picked up on the trip. In the pictures I had made in
my head I was running round helping people, talking to the guests and
that but when the time came I had been frozen. I sat down for a
moment and have myself a quick reprogramming.

Now it was Julie's turn
to take us round the castle. This was the part I had been looking
forward to the most, I was looking forward to seeing what she could
do. Even on the first trip round, to be fair to her I could see her
physically reacting at times and could hear her internally making
notes to remember for example the weak knees feeling she felt going
down one certain set of stairs. But yeah, she was mind blowingly
accurate and there wasn't a single person left unimpressed by her. I
had picked up a few of the things that she mentioned but she was
another another level. Even just her ability to decode the extra
sensory input into actual words was impressive, but I guess that’s
all the experience. I couldn't have asked for a better person to
observe. I learnt a lot.

So then they let us loose in the castle. It was cool, yeah like how you are imagining it
now, except no in night vision! We only had torches to aid our sight.
The people at 'Spooks Events' had laid out equipment for the guests
to use, paranormal stuff like pendulums and dowsing rods and the more
scientific type gadgets like infra red thermometers and KII EMF
readers. Realizing this was my chance to be more involved I went into
the castle and just tagged along with a group.

The crypt of the castle
was where we had the most success. The was much activity down there
as I suppose one would expect what with it being used as a place to
store dead bodies! The rest of the castle had been pretty low on
activity but the crypt seemed to be over flowing with spirits. There
was this one corner of the room in which almost everybody picked up
something. A few people said they had been touched when they were in
that part of the room. I rather cheekily sat down with some
mannequins and literally seconds after my bottom made contact with
the wood a small stone hit me in the leg. The EMF reader started
having a fit and we tried to communicate with whatever it was that
was there.

The EVP samples are a
little difficult to understand, and some parts I'm not as sure about
as others. I'd love to hear what you think is being said. For me I
definitely hear “strange” clear as a bell. We got totally lost
in time, ass you often do when your having so much fun and Gaz
actually had to come and round people up! We had another break and
Cath explained that the group would be split into two smaller groups.
One would go with her to the crypt and another would go with Julie
and both groups would attempt to communicate with the spirits using a
Ouija board. We had a lot of success with the EMF meter picking up
signals in the basement so I was keen to see what would be said down
there. The Ouija board gets a bad press and you always hear people
saying, in that mystical tone, “oh be careful.. you don't want to
let anything in... make sure you close properly or you'll be
followed” or whatever and I felt that Cath did an excellent job
(despite being whipped in the face) and made sure that everybody was
safe and grounded. I was very impressed by her during the 'seance'
and her knowledge on the subject of the paranormal was matched only
by her passion for the subject.

All in all I had a
great night. The people were great, warm and very helpful. Spooks
Events were excellent and I would definitely recommend them a million
times over. Sure the EVP samples are a bit hit and miss but I
certainly picked up a lot of vibes in the building, I certainly felt
some presence in the crypt and I did get hit by a stone which I can't
really explain away. What I will take away from the night is a whole
bunch of anecdotes and an even stronger belief that there is
something out there on the other side, something that we can't
explain... yet.